Philly D.A. convenes grand jury for Pa. lawmaker cash probe

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday he will revive a racially charged probe into whether several state lawmakers accepted cash and gifts in exchange for political favors.

The move is something of a rebuke to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a fellow Democrat who inherited the case but dropped it after questioning its integrity. She said the criminal informant involved had gotten “the deal of the century” and noted that the four Philadelphia lawmakers targeted are all black.

“If crimes occurred here, of this magnitude, of this nature, then we can’t be indifferent, we can’t put our heads in the sand,” Williams, who is also black, said as he announced that a grand jury probe was underway. “Pennsylvania and the accused deserve due process. They have been denied that.”

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The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that the four Democratic legislators and a traffic court judge were captured on tape accepting cash and gifts from a lobbyist working undercover for Kane’s office. Williams on Wednesday called the taped evidence convincing.

He had criticized Kane’s decision to drop the corruption probe and defended two career prosecutors who led the investigation. They now work for him.

They had agreed in late 2012 to drop more than 2,000 fraud charges against the informant, businessman Tyron B. Ali, when he agreed to secretly record his contact with public officials. Ali’s lawyer, Robert Levant, wrote in a court filing last year that Ali gave cash bribes to at least eight state lawmakers. However, a state prosecutor later said there was not enough evidence of the quid pro quo required under Pennsylvania law.

Williams said that comments from Kane and her staff may someday become “fodder for defense lawyers” in the case, but he stopped short of criticizing her head-on.

“I’m not going to comment on the attorney general, what she has done or whether she should be in office,” Williams said Wednesday.

Kane, through a spokesman, declined to respond. She had challenged him this spring to try to tackle the case, as she faced mounting criticism. Williams then demanded all of her evidence.

At the news conference, he said the probe is broader than first reported, but he declined to identify any potential targets.

A lawyer for one lawmaker named by the Inquirer, Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, said she would be exonerated.

“When he gets to the bottom of it, the grand jury will realize she did nothing wrong,” lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. said.

The others identified by the Inquirer include Rep. Michelle Brownlee and Rep. Vanessa Brown.

Brownlee referred questions Wednesday to House Democratic caucus spokesman Bill Patton, who pledged the caucus would cooperate with evidence requests but said none has yet been made. Brown’s lawyer, Wadud Ahmad, has previously said she maintains her innocence. He did not immediately return messages Wednesday.

City prosecutors expect the grand jury’s work to take months, not years.